Spotting scope camera systems

[ForgeValley]

I recently find myself without a spotter for my ELR shooting, and wondering if any of the camera systems, or adapters for a phone camera, are worth a damn? I don't have access to place a camera near the target, so it's going to have to be setup at my firing position. I'd be happy to find something that worked reasonably well at 1 mile.

 

[_Windrider_]

Just look up digiscoping adapters. You’ll find something

 

[Missalot]

I've got a cheap one, paid about $15-20 off of amazon to put my iPhone on my 65mm viper scope. It takes about 5 min to line up the camera lens with the scope and get it going. Then you have to find the target. 5 min doesn't sound like much, but it gets tedious after the first time and there isn't a way on mine to do a one time 'set it and forget it'. The camera actually does the focusing so you get a general focus with the scope and the camera does the fine tuning. The field of view is probably 1/3 less than using your eye on my scope but for target shooting, it's not a big deal.

It actually works pretty good at the lowest power especially if you video your target and makes it easy to see how your group progresses with each shot on playback. Vignetting comes on strong as you crank up the magnification. I stopped using mine because I use my phone to display my chrono results.

Make sure you measure the outside diameter of your scope lens before ordering. The first one I ordered didn't fit.

 

[Taylorbok]

I've heard people using the Nikon P1000, has 125x Digital zoom, I hear the digital zoom cuts through mirage better. I wish I would have gone this route, cheaper than a spotting scope and you can play back.

 

[6.5SH]

Recap of the URSA NorCal Feb '22 event

21 Feb 2022 - Recap of the URSA NorCal Feb ‘22 event (by RD, Lynn Dragoman; build info from Oscar) Well we had a first time shooter at this months match and he was shooting an Armalite AR50 with factory 660 grain federal american ball ammo. I have shot factory ball ammo in the past and was...

www.snipershide.com

 

[babyguppy]

I've heard people using the Nikon P1000, has 125x Digital zoom, I hear the digital zoom cuts through mirage better. I wish I would have gone this route, cheaper than a spotting scope and you can play back.

wow, wish I knew about this.. before I dropped some $$, definitely an option

The lens assembly ranges from a 24mm equivalent wide-angle up to the super-telephoto 3000mm equivalent. With the help of digital zoom, up to 250x total zoom is possible, albeit at far lesser image quality than strictly optical.​

and​

4K Ultra HD video with stereo sound​

they retail for around 1K. and my spotter doesn't have this

Dual Detect Optical Vibration Reduction system to stabilize both horizontal and vertical movements.​

 

[amymorgan20]

I bought the Nikon P900 right before the P1000 came out. It is quite the formidable target camera. Although setting it up to review each shot turning off recording, go to play, select most recent recording, play recording, look for splash, go back to recording, record...gets old really quick. Wish there were a target camera system that I could program in a delay so I can try to see my splash through my scope first then look to the side/up to see the target video show the splash.

 

[Denys]

3000mm equivalent is about 60X magnification.

 

[SmileMaker]

KOWA 883 25x60
Digiscope Adapter
Galaxy Note 9

 

[babyguppy]

KOWA 883 25x60
Digiscope Adapter
Galaxy Note 9

ugg, shows video is private

 

[Denys]

In the meantime, this is a video I made a few months ago at Ben Avery. It shows the target line at 1000 yards. I also used a Kowa 883 with the 25-60X eyepiece, but with a TSN-PA7 photo adapter to which I connected my Nikon D7500 DSLR. I had to use manual controls to get the exposure right and it's a little trickier with video but I think it turne out OK. I chose the Kowa 883 because of its pure fluorite crystal glass, which I believe is unique in the industry. I am a firm believer in how Super ED and fluorite crystal glass have the ability to retard the IQ degradation brought on by mirage. They also show mirage better and faster than regular optical glass, which makes it a plus in F-Class competition.

 

[ForgeValley]

Thanks everyone, lots of good info. I'm looking hard at the p1000 with an external monitor setup, that is pretty slick.

 

[babyguppy]

maybe get a tablet, hooked to the camera, and have the tablet record, might be easier to play back. - tossing out ideas

 

[SmileMaker]

ugg, shows video is private

Should be public now. Here' s same setup at 1 mile 18 inch target.

 

[AlanX]

I've been using Canon SX60 for six years to record my hunting and ELR shooting. It surprised everyone when they saw it for the first time how capable this little camera is. It has WiFi so you can stream video to your phone in real time, as well as control the camera wirelessly. The mirage is still very noticeable, worse than my Swaro bino for sure, but I still bring it on every trip.

 

[David Lepley]

For those looking at the P1000. I have considered a similar setup and never knew of P1000. My plan was to do something like shown here: Linux DSLR to WebCam

And then use MotionEye to spot hits on the plate.

 

[Sigma]

I run a kowa 883 with an iphone adapter, works very nice, but i have like $3k into it.

i bet a nikon p1000 paired to a large ipad screen might be a great option too

 

[TikkaT3XMP]

Is ANYONE using a spotting scope at 700 yards and able to see detailed bullet placements on target? I am leaning towards a camera system like Longshot.

I would appreciate your advice.

 

[Taylorbok]

Is ANYONE using a spotting scope at 700 yards and able to see detailed bullet placements on target? I am leaning towards a camera system like Longshot.

I would appreciate your advice.

are you shooting paper or steel?

 

[TikkaT3XMP]

are you shooting paper or steel?

Paper...

 

[Dogtown]

Is ANYONE using a spotting scope at 700 yards and able to see detailed bullet placements on target? I am leaning towards a camera system like Longshot.

I would appreciate your advice.

I tried using a camera in the past and it was a pain, but tech these days seems better. These days I use a Shotmarker setup that gives a lot more useful data than just seeing hits (group size, velocity at target, etc). I have one frame I use for 100-300 yard testing and a larger frame I use for much further. I've got to 1200 yards with it.

 

[Sigma]

Is ANYONE using a spotting scope at 700 yards and able to see detailed bullet placements on target? I am leaning towards a camera system like Longshot.

I would appreciate your advice.

if seeing bullet holes 100% of the time is necessary then get a target cam system. A good spotter is capable, but when the conditions start getting less than ideal you are going to struggle

 

[Taylorbok]

I think I'd vote for the Shot Marker if you wanna "see" holes in paper.
You can re-set it for each shooter don't have to distinguish which shot is which on a screen it will tell you.
The spotting scope will be iffy in mirage no matter how good of glass you buy.

 

[Dogtown]

You can make your own Shotmarker frames fairly easily - just make sure the four sensors are planar to each other (Trigonometry requires it). I made a wooden one that fits on the targets at my local range; it just hangs on the boards.

For longer range I use the big 5ft square metal target from Detour Dynamics. It's a bit of a pain to setup by yourself, but I usually set it at one location and then move back to further FFPs so I don't have to keep moving it.

 

[Sandow the Heretic]

I've got a cheap one, paid about $15-20 off of amazon to put my iPhone on my 65mm viper scope. It takes about 5 min to line up the camera lens with the scope and get it going. Then you have to find the target. 5 min doesn't sound like much, but it gets tedious after the first time and there isn't a way on mine to do a one time 'set it and forget it'. The camera actually does the focusing so you get a general focus with the scope and the camera does the fine tuning. The field of view is probably 1/3 less than using your eye on my scope but for target shooting, it's not a big deal.

Can't help with the alignment of a cell phone camera but one of the things that makes all the difference in the world for then aiming it at the target is the manfrotto Jr. Being able to dial it with no backlash makes life much easier.

For some targets at Ko2M I have needed to use a camera on a spotting scope because the observation point has been hundreds of yards from the plate. This is the core from a cheap security camera in a printed housing. This particular set up was especially bad cause the only place to put a camera was also not line of sight to the firing point so there was about 400 feet of networking cable between the camera and the antenna.

Haven't needed this style in a few years but I need to go back to it for a target this year. The one major change I'm working on to what you see here is a threaded body so the distance of the camera to the ocular can be dialed in. I still expect set up to be a massive pain in the ass though. Backup plan is a new PTZ camera with a 30x optical zoom but I think that will only be good enough to see impact splash reliably.

Once a security camera is stripped down, they use more or less standard lens mounts and there are adjustable lenses on amazon that let you set the zoom down the ocular so you get a full field view. The it is just a matter of pointing the spotting scope and focusing it.

Guts inside the housing look like this. The disconnected wires are for the LED illumination which are obviously about as useful as tits on a turtle here. Last thing is something to view with and I recommend the FZ-G1 tablet. They can be found as refurbished units for cheap and they are rugged and have a bright 1080p display that is usable in full sun.

-Alex